One Hand, One Heart
by perpetuallove
Summary: It's one year after the strike and the friendship and alliance between Jack Kelly and Spot Conlon has shattered. No one really knows how or why, but it has, and those who dare to ignore that fact are bound to pay [Romeo and Juliet spin off]
1. Prologue

**One Hand, One Heart**

- ♥ -_  
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.  
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes  
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life._

- ♥ -

Prologue

Almost no one really knows what happened between Jack Kelly and Spot Conlon during that year after the strike, and the one's who do, wouldn't breathe a word of it if their lives depended on it. Maybe it was something huge, or maybe it was just a petty misunderstanding that escalated into much, much more. Maybe it was a girl, maybe it was betrayal, or maybe it was the personality change Jack underwent after finding out he had a sister. The finding of this sister being an interesting story in and of itself, even if only because of the rather strange history behind it.

William Sullivan, a man as man as they came, was rude, crude, and a filthy drunk, He used women like wet hankies, and thought them to be almost a separate race, greatly inferior to men. He was also set on having a son to follow in his footsteps as most men are, so when his girl gave him a son, he was thrilled. He was so thrilled, in fact, that he married her despite his views. He was a decent father for a time, right up until his son's first birthday. That's when he got the news. His mistress was pregnant. He began to neglect his first son as he waited anxiously for the next one to arrive. Two sons in two years was more than he'd ever dreamed of, and he was thrilled beyond belief to have another young mind to corrupt, though he probably wouldn't have put it in those terms. So when his mistress gave him a girl, it's easy to imagine his anger. He was furious, wanting the child killed, and sure as hell, he tried. Unfortunately for him, this woman was a stubborn thing, and she wanted to keep her child, regardless of his feelings towards it. She protected the child with all her strength, losing her life in the process, but not before she managed to get the babe to her close friend, Medda Larkson.

William was arrested on charges of attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison. His wife, ashamed at the turn of events, vanished, leaving the son, a mere one and a half years old, lying in his cradle in their dump of an apartment. He was found within the next day by neighbors and given food and a place to sleep until he was five years old when they sent him onto the streets. That wasn't the end of his story, but all that's to be told for now as this isn't his story, it's his sisters.

It's important to understand that Medda Larkson was not a mother. She had nothing against children, she was actually quite found of them, but she was designed to treat them and fawn over them, not raise them. She had planned to do the only thing she could and send the young girl to the orphanage, but her friend had died protecting that child and she could not bear to just dump the girl into a place she would surely grow up miserable. She decided instead to find a good home for the young girl. She found one in an old couple by the names of Miles and Edna Locke, whose children had failed to give them any grandchildren, leaving them feeling lonely. They treasured the young girl, and treated her like a queen, even named her after their deceased daughter, Juliann. Medda herself made frequent visits at first, but she soon forgot about her friend, the promise she'd made, and Juliann.

Maybe that's why she never told young Francis about it or his dark past when, at the age of seven, their paths crossed. Or maybe, she only told him a little, twisting the facts, so as not to upset the young boy. For whatever reason, the point is, she never told Francis.

As time went by, Francis aged and became the well known strike leader Jack Kelly, Medda aged, Juliann aged, and so did the Lockes. However, as all things, they could only age so much before they stopped all together. The winter of 1899 brought that fateful day, and the moment their coffins were lowered into the grave, Juliann was officially part of the streets.

Something must have been hard at work that day, some force, whether it be good or bad is hard to say, but it was definitely there. Coincidence could not have brought Juliann to Medda's front door, could not have sparked a piece of the past within Medda's memory that allowed her to recognize the girl and connect her with Jack, and it certainly could not have insured that Jack would be willing to take her in. Yet, all that happened.

And that's when Jack changed. Having a sister did not treat Jack well. He lost his easy going spirit and became overprotective, constantly filled with worry for Juliann's safety from boys, thugs, and other dangers. That's not to say he was disliked for it though, at least not by everyone. The Manhattan boys sort of liked this more cautious Jack, as they weren't a rash sort of people (with the exception of the strike), and Sarah, was overjoyed that he was finally taking on a more responsible look at his life. It was Brooklyn, namely Spot, who had a problem. Maybe it was because he didn't like cautious people, maybe it was because Jack acting grown up made him feel like he should grow up and that was something he was not willing to do, maybe it was some other reason, but, whatever the reason, he had a problem with the new Jack.

It's still impossible to say whether or not this was the reason for the split in their friendship and the cause for their animosity.

It was one hell of an animosity too, make no mistake. They eventually got their whole boroughs to go along with the feud. Not a soul who associated with one, associated with the other. In fact, almost every outsider avoided the two boroughs all together. And heaven forbid a Manhattan resident become friendly in any way with a Brooklynite, let's just say, it wouldn't be pretty…and it wasn't.

* * *

**Authors Note: **To all of you who made it through that, congrats, you have incredible patience. I'm really sorry that this was so long and boring, but the history needed to be introduced for various reasons, mainly so any of you are brave enough to come back for chapter 1, you're not totally lost. I won't promise the next few chapters will be super interesting, some ideas and characters obviously still need to be introduced and developed, but they will be significantly better than this. And it will get interesting eventually, I will promise that. On a side note, reviews make me happy, and when I'm happy, I'm in a good mood, and when I'm in a good mood, I write more interesting chapters (really!)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own newsies or any of the characters from it that appear in this story. I also do not own the basic premise for this story, because, if you haven't noticed, it's based off of Romeo and Juliet. Well, more West Side Story, but it's based off of Romeo and Juliet, and their are some things that are from Romeo and Juliet that are not in West Side Story. Also, many of the characters are from West Side Story. Riff, Ice, Action, and probably a few others are not mine, they belong to whoever owns West Side Story (note: they may not play the same roles, or even look exactly like they did in the movie so don't assume anything). The only characters as of right now that belong to me are Roman and Juliann, but they're based off of Romeo and Juliet, however, only in story, not necessarily in personality or mannerisms. Any similarities are pure coincidence, still, I guess I don't really own them after all. Oh, and I just realized, I don't own the title either, its a West Side Story song so...yea, what can I say, I'm a dirty rotten theif of unoriginality.


	2. Chapter 1: A Proposal and a Complaint

**One Hand, One Heart**

- -

_Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean  
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes  
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life._

_- -_

**Brooklyn**

"Spot, are you alright?" asked Roman. "You've been, well, not yourself lately." Spot looked up at him, the sorrows of a boy forced to grow up to fast evident in his eyes.

"I'll live," he responded indifferently. Roman nodded and sat down on the bunk beside Spot. Spot sighed in frustration.

"I just don't get it, Roman. Since when has Kelly been good at defenses? I mean, less that a year ago the guy _needed_ us just to win a damn strike and now, all a the sudden he's king of the world. Just today, two a me boys got beat up for gettin' too close to Manhattan's borders." Spot glanced over at Roman, stern blue eyes demanding a response. Roman lowered his head, resting it on his hands.

"Listen, Spot. I don't know what to tell ya. I know I'm supposed to be your advisor and all, but Kelly's gone mad. I don't know him anymore. None of us do. Maybe that's why he's got the advantage. You haven't changed. He still knows you and can predict every move you'd make."

"So I gotta change," stated Spot.

"Well…" Roman began, unsure of how to answer. Luckily, he was saved by an intruder making his presence in the doorway known.

"Jesus, Spot, lighten up. You don't need to change, ya need…" The intruding boy paused for a moment, raising his hand to his head. His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. "A party! That's it, that's what ya need…and dames, ya always need dames."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Yea, Riff, that's just what we need in the middle of a borough war. A leader who's too busy getting drunk with whores every night to protect his people." Riff held his hands up in self defense.

"Whoa there, calm down, o holy one. Ain't nothin' wrong with drinkin' or whores, they're both in the bible ain't they?"

Roman shrugged, "How should I know? I'm just saying it's a waste of time for…"

Spot cut him off, "Boy, you're me best friend, but sometimes ya gotta learn when not to run your mouth. Now, what were you saying about a party, Riff? I could use a little relaxation after all that's been happening."

- -

**Manhattan**

"Jack wants me to go on a date with Mush Friday night," Juliann complained as Sarah combed through the knots in her strawberry blonde locks.

"Mush is a nice boy," Sarah replied. "You'll have fun."

"Yes," Juliann agreed. "Mush is a nice boy, but that's it. Someone to have fun with, a _friend_. I could never love him."

Sarah laughed, "No one ever said you had to love him."

Juliann raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Have you met my brother?"

"Alright, alright, I admit, Jack does have his heart set on this relationship," Sarah conceded. "But I know Jack, he'll understand if you just talk to him."

"_Nooo_, he'll just try to talk me into seeing things his way," Juliann argued. She turned around to face Sarah. "And if that doesn't work, he'll just charm you into helping him gang up on me," Juliann added impertinently, a playful twinkle glittering in her pale green eyes. Sarah gave her a reproving look, trying unsuccessfully to hide the smile working its way up to the corners of her mouth.

"Turn around. I still need to braid your hair." Juliann sighed, realizing that she would get no further in her anti-mush argument that night, and slid back around in her seat to face the mirror. She stared at her own reflection as Sarah parted her hair into three sections and began to twist them together. She resembled her brother. A gentler, more feminine version of Jack people called her. Normally she was flattered by the comment, but today, being as frustrated with her brother as she was, she cursed it.

"Done," said Sarah. She flipped the long braid over Juliann's shoulder for the girl to have a look. "Now, off to bed."

"Since when did you become my mother?" Juliann questioned indignantly.

"Since Jack set it up for you to move in with me and family, giving me strict instructions to treat you exactly as he would," Sarah responded smartly. "Now go." Sarah pointed to the cot across from her own bed and waited until Juliann was in bed before turning around to fix her own hair. She finished quickly, her experienced fingers braiding her own hair with ease.

"Sarah," Juliann asked as Sarah made her way to her own bed.

"Yes."

"Since I am undoubtedly going to be forced to go a bad date and spend Friday night utterly miserable, couldn't you at least allow me the satisfaction of a later bed time?" Juliann begged with an exaggerated tone of desperation.

"Enough of the dramatics, Juliann. You sound like one of Medda's showgirls," Sarah reprimanded. She leaned over and turned off the kerosene lamp, plunging the room into darkness. Juliann let out an annoyed "hmpf" and rolled over to go to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:** First of all, if anyone is still interessted in this story, I want to apologies for the deplorably long amount of time it took me to update. Honestly, I was lost, really busy with school, lost, suffering enough of my own personal dramas to have any time to write one, and, did I mention lost? Eventually, I kind of just forgot about my dear Juliann and Roman, whom I've a death date with that's long overdue (hah! I'm so evil). But today, I was randomly looking through old files on my computer, found this, remembered how sweet it was supposed to be, and decided I just HAD to finish it. So yay, I'm back, and I promise with much quicker updates. Also, one last apology, to both my old readers and the multitudes of new ones (yea, who am I kidding), for the large amount of spelling and grammatical errors in my first chapter. I think this one is better in that department, but I promise to use a beta reader for my next chapter if you just stick with me on this. Oh, wait, I lied, one more thing. I'm deviating more from my original idea, so even though this is still inspired by Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story, there will be a lot of deviance from the plots of both stories. But hey, its my story, isn't that the point?

**Disclaimer:** Yea, I don't own newsies, or R&J, or WSS, or any of the characters except Roman and Juliann (whom I own only in name).


	3. Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End

One Hand, One Heart

**One Hand, One Heart**

- -

_  
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.  
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes  
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life._

- -

**Friday Night at Medda's**

_Brooklyn's Table_

Spot sat at a table with the most trusted members of his borough that night, a small booth at the back of Medda's Theater where he could watch his boys to make sure nothing was going on, since Medda's was neutral territory and there were some Manhattan boys around, yet still enjoy the company of Medda's off duty showgirls in private. Seated to his right was Roman, the only one at the table without a girl on his lap. It wasn't because he was unattractive or awkward for he was quite the opposite; it was because he was a bit old fashioned in his views of women and only spent time with girls he cared about, girls he thought were worth something. He took a lot of beating from his friends about it but never let it bother him. Riff, seated to Spot's left, could be described most accurately as Roman's polar opposite. This was most true when it came to women. He had, it seemed, a new girl with him every quarter hour. Every once in a while would disappear with one for a half hour or so, but that's about as much "quality time" a girl could hope for with Riff. There were two others at the booth, on the other side of the table, across from Spot: Ice, one of the biggest boys in Brooklyn, who functioned as a body guard for Spot, who despite being a quick and skilled fighter, was rather small in stature; and Action, a slight boy who moved in an almost birdlike fashion and was most often found leering at someone or something. He was Spot's most trusted informant.

Spot had just fed one of his best lines to the girl beside him, nearly securing her company for the night, when an unexpected appearance by the psychopathic dictator of Manhattan spoiled his good mood. Action was the first to notice, he piercing green eyes fixing on the door with a look that could only be described as a death glare.

"Looks like we got company," he stated, spitting out the word "company" with disgust. Of course, Jack had as much right to be there as Spot, but Spot and many of those higher up in the Brooklyn monarchy, couldn't bear to even look at the traitor. The rest of the newsies couldn't be bothered with grudges while they were partying.

"If this weren't neutral territory, I would tear that mother…" Ice began but Spot cut him off.

"Cool it, Ice. We got ladies present. 'Sides, if we keep it cool, we're showing him that he ain't got no power over us. Cause he don't." Ice settled back into his seat, satisfying his disdain with a hateful glance in Jack's direction before turning back to his date for the night.

After a short period of time, Spot's table settled back into the easy-going atmosphere of earlier that evening, though an underlying spark of tension waited patiently to light the fuse of confrontation.

As for Roman, all the tension in the world couldn't distract him from the gentle beauty that had entered the theater with Jack's crowd. He stared, fixated on the movement of her pink lips as she talked, and the smoothness of her skin, and the elegant way her hair's easy curls fell over her shoulders. So intense was his gaze that it attracted the attention of Riff.

"The hell you looking at?"

_Manhattan's Table_

Jack entered the theater with Sarah on his arm and Juliann close at his side. Mush followed a step behind Juliann. Behind him, Racetrack, Jack's best friend, and Skittery, Juliann's closest friend of the newsies, followed the group. They sat at a round table just in front of the stage. It was a special table, undoubtedly the best in the house, reserved for Jack and Juliann by Medda. Jack and Sarah soon became too engrossed with each others company to notice much else, gazing lovingly into each others eyes and making the rest of the table a little nauseous. Juliann sat next to Mush, who despite his best efforts was boring her. She kept sending "help me" glances Skittery's way, but he merely smirked, clearly enjoying her miserable situation, and returned to his conversation with Racetrack. Without her so called friend to help her out of the date from hell, Juliann attempted to block out Mush's incessant chatter by studying the occupants of Medda's theater. She made a game out of trying to tell the Manhattan boys from the Brooklynites, which wasn't really hard considering the Brooklyn boys were generally the rudest and rowdiest of the bunch, but it entertained her for a time. It was at this time when she caught sight of Roman. Despite the fact that he was seated next to her brother's worst enemy, she couldn't help but stare. Their eyes connected, and everyone else in the theater seemed to melt away until it was just the two of them. She rose from her seat, drawn to him, and he rose as well. Mush stopped talking and stared at her for a moment.

"Juliann, what are you doing? Is something wrong?" he asked. She didn't hear him. She didn't hear anything at all. She was focused on getting to that strange dark boy across the room. His eyes, his hair, dark and lovely. Perfection. She was nearly halfway across the room, as was Roman, before all the members of both parties noticed their absence. The occupants of the two tables stared, a bewildered expression on all of their faces, trying to understand what was going on. The two came together. Juliann reached out to take hold of Roman's hands.

"Hello," she whispered, hardly able to speak.

"Hi," he responded, equally as dumbfounded as she was. "Your eyes are beautiful, you know."

"Yours too."

They gazed in silence for a moment.

"I'm Juliann."

"A beautiful name. I love it," Roman answered. Juliann blushed.

"And you are?" It was Roman's cheeks turn to color.

"Oh, Roman. Everyone calls me Roman."

"A strong name." Roman nodded.

Just at that moment, a strong grip yanked Roman backwards. He spun around, coming face to face with a seething Jack.

"Get your dirty ass Brooklyn hands off my sister! My god if you so much as look at her again I'll rip your heart from your chest with my bare hands…" Spot arrived at this moment, cutting off Jack's threat with a punch in the face.

"Kelly, if you so much as lay a finger on one a me boys, you'll regret that you were ever born." Jack leapt up from the table that Spot had knocked him into, fists at the ready. Ice stepped in between him and Spot. Racetrack put his hand up on Jack's shoulder.

"Back down, man. You can't take Ice. 'Sides this is neutral territory and there are a whole lot more a Spot's guys here than ours," Racetrack warned. Skittery nodded in agreement.

"Listen to him, Jack."

"Yea, Kelly. Listen to him. This is a new shirt, and I didn't really want your blood mussing it all up anyway," Ice mocked. Jack raged, attempting to step forward to Ice, but Skittery and Racetrack held him back.

"I ain't gonna fight you now," Jack conceded. "but this sure as hell ain't over. We'll settle this somewhere else."

"Just name a time and place, Jacky-boy. I suppose your room in hell can wait. All reservations final, right?"

"Go to hell, Spot," Jack spat.

"I plan on it, Jacky-boy. I've got a throne waiting right there beside the fiery prince himself."

"Next Saturday. The docks. Ten o'clock. Be there and we'll settle this once and for all."

"It'll be my pleasure, Jacky-boy. Come on, let's go." Spot turned to leave, his crew close behind, except for Roman, who was still gazing at Juliann. "Roman, move it!" Roman reluctantly departed. "Action, tell everyone, party's over." Action scuttled off through the theater sending a flow of Brooklyn newsies out the doors. Spot finally exited, leaving Jack and the Manhattan newsies present alone in the theater.

"Alright, everyone beat it," Jack commanded. He grabbed Juliann's arm tightly, nearly dragging her out of the theater, as the rest of his group departed. "You're really an idiot, you know that, Juliann. Look at the mess you've caused."

"I caused?" Juliann muttered under her breath. "This mess has been around since the day I came here."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the exceptional suckage of this chapter. I know it wasn't supremely exciting. But we're getting there, right? It will pick up a lot more hopefully in a few more chapters. I mean, angsty romance and feuding boroughs, what could be better? Btw, reviews make me want to update, even bad ones! So REVIEW!! I love you all and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Newsies, R&J, WSS, etc, etc, you know the drill.


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